Since the economic downturn and accountants took over and its all about the numbers now, who has the most models and who has the best fuel economy figures, ect. Because BMW want to out-do the competition on economy figures they have made radical changes to their vehicles to reduce air and parasitic drag, less exterior trimmings and aerodynamic under panels are used to bring drag coefficient numbers down. Power steering pumps, aircons and water pumps which run off the crankshaft produce parasitic drag on the motor reducing its fuel efficiency and this is why BMW replaced them with electric components instead, direct injection is also now the norm but with all these advances come their inherent pitfalls. The cost of replacing an electric water pump or aircon pump or power steering pump versus its older mechanical type is crazy and puts the part cost way out of anyone's budget, we talking about a 400-800% price difference in parts here...Direct injection, although a great fuel saver is very costly when it goes wrong, high pressure fuel pumps do go bad and cost the earth, ask any X35i owner. Due to there being no fuel to lubricate the intake tract in a modern direct injection motor carbon builds up at a rapid rate chocking the motor and killing performance and economy, I have personally seen in the BMW workshops how bad this carbon build-up can get, even with as little as 40 000km. Fortunately a very clever man named George Smooth aka Carbon Doctor saw the lack of facilities in this country for carbon build-up and imported the expensive equipment to cater for the demand, if he weren't around then what would you do? All those guys with modern BMWs with direct injection should go pay George a visit and let him show you with his endoscope how carbon-caked your internals really are!:fencelook:
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